babies, books & cultivating coziness.

Commonplace Book, 10

What is a commonplace book? For me, this is a space where I post interesting links, reflections on what I’m reading, and the newest recipes I’ve been trying out — a collection of miscellaneous micro-posts.

What I’m fixing:

On vacation, J and I went out to The Edison in Tallahassee to celebrate our anniversary (8!). Because I am a real grown up, I ordered the Grown Up Grilled Cheese, which had something called English muffin bread. Have you had it? Really, really good. And so when I got back to Virginia, I had to try this: King Arthur’s English Muffin Bread for the Bread Machine. Highly recommend.

Smitten Kitchen’s slow roasted cherry tomatoes. I’m not sure it can even be considered a recipe, but for people like me, who love the idea of garden-fresh tomatoes but in practice loathe watching their toddler chomp into backyard tomatoes, seeds and that creepy jelly dripping down his chin, this is a good compromise. They still taste fresh, and prep is a breeze, but when they’re done, they’re all shriveled and tart.

I’d like to say these are ripe from my backyard garden, or that I bought them from my friendly local farmer, but no, I just found them in the damaged produce section of Martins.

What I’m reading:

Have you read Swallows and Amazons? I did, for my children’s lit tutorial at Oxford, and it was entirely lovable. This First Things piece suggests to me it might be time to introduce Pippin.

The world of Swallows and Amazons is a normal child’s ideal world, quiet and sheltered and kind, but full of startling and unexpected things, some of them real and some imagined.

Charlotte’s Web with Pippin. I found the battered copy my sister and I shared while we were back in Tallahassee, and I smuggled it out in my luggage, where the 20+ year old binding promptly broke into three pieces. I think Pip’s ready for the heavy ending, but I’m not sure that I am!